Everything Tracy Jordan Said Season 5
Oh no! I missed it. Do it again:
Episode 3
-That’s Tracy Jordan spelled backwards.
-Don’t worry about it, Jacky D, I’m on it. Call Griz. I need someone around me who’s not just a yes man.
-So, what do we want to see on TV? I personally love cop shows. I can’t wait for Law and Order to start back up.
-Why? It was a tent pole. A tent pole!
-I’d like to see that incorporated in to your re-write. OK, meeting over.
-The only thing that worked in the read through was the dog.
-Good, and there’s a lot of buzz. Can you hear it, too? Or is my tinnitus acting up. Hey, that food is for DotCom Productions only. TGS’s food is backstage.
-Yo, Jacky D. I had dinner with Don Imus last night. He told the following joke…
-And thank you, Representative. What you’re doing is very important. I can assure you that NBC is committed to making diversity, a priority. Then just walk away, and don’t try to kiss her, Tracy. And don’t say that last part.
-I’ll kill you, white devil.
-I’m cutting that fat cracker’s head off.
-Yes! Great fix, Griz.
National Jukebox
The National Jukebox debuts, featuring more than 10,000 78rpm disc sides issued by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1900 and 1925.
What’s on the menu?
From project staff at the NYPL:
With approximately 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to the present, The New York Public Library’s restaurant menu collection is one of the largest in the world, used by historians, chefs, novelists and everyday food enthusiasts. Trouble is, the menus are very difficult to search for the greatest treasures they contain: specific information about dishes, prices, the organization of meals, and all the stories these things tell us about the history of food and culture.
To solve this, we’re working to improve the collection by transcribing the menus, dish by dish. Doing this will allow us to dramatically expand the ways in which the collection can be researched and accessed, opening the door to new kinds of discoveries. We’ve built a simple tool that makes the transcribing pretty easy to do, but it’s a big job, so we need your help.
Cinema Komunisto
From Cinema Komunisto, a documentary about the Yugoslav film industry. Directed by Mila Turajlic.
quote out of context
ANYWAYS: An Antarctic Mystery, as far as I can tell, is based on the idea that The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is, in fact, completely true, and these later adventurers are going to follow up on his report. I am certain that I am failing to communicate how completely awesome this is, that Jules Verne is in some meta, wonderful way based an entire novel on the premise that the framing of yet another foundational adventure novel is in fact not a framing but a true thing. And he spends SIXTY PAGES setting this up.
You are — “in quotes” — a serious actress
Historical perspective on Helen Mirren’s magical bosom.
Thanks to Kimberly and Ju Ju for this. (We’ve had an extended afternoon conversation about Helen Mirren.)
The Assize of Nuisance
Alice Wade, who lived in 14th Century London, could not countenance the smell of her own poo.
A Magnet Laboratory (1959)
Directed by the late Richard Leacock for the Educational Development Corporation as part of the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) series of films.
I hope at least one or two people watch this twenty-minute gem of an “educational film,” wherein half a dozen MIT researchers set out to demonstrate the power of electromagnets and inadvertently spark a brief fire.
Also, partway through the film, the phone rings off-screen, interrupting Francis Bitter’s concentration on busbars. “Tell ‘em to call me back later — I’m busy,” he says.
If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you’ll like. There’s actually a lot going on here.
A Toilet Room.
Natural Food Conservatory. Niagara, New York. [Between 1900 and 1906.]
More archival images of bathrooms, please.
(Note: The Natural Food Conservatory was one of the names of the company that made Shredded Wheat cereal. In 1928 the company was sold to what became Nabisco.)
Tweet of the day, honorable mention
Specifically, he’s been tweeting gorgeous photos from this collection all afternoon.
from the archives: April 10, 2008
That does it. This is it. 1979 marked some kind of something, the likes of which we may never again witness.
Published in 1979: India’s brilliant How to Care for a Guinea Pig.
I can never get enough of this.
John Welding, Illustrator | Oral History of Agbrigg and Belle Vue
As an archivist and a lover of illustration, how could I not like such a project as this by John Welding? (Thanks to clusterfriend Pete Ashton.)
Spent time yesterday redrawing illustrations for the Oral History Book Project. My first attempts didn’t quite match up with my recent efforts, which I thought were better. These are made using a light box to trace off elements with pen and brush that are needed then moved around to make the picture work, to place emphasis where it’s needed.
Beautiful Clothes (Make Beautiful Girls) [1942]
Featuring Harry Langdon. Directed by Josef Berne.
Furs by Louis Rifkin.
We were talking about visual merchandising. And living mannequins.
from the archives: April 29, 2008
It’s the comments that make it.
No, no, no. Dr Pepper.
Q: I have 2 commemorative cans of Dr. Pepper. One is full of soda and one is empty. The archives of Abilene Christian University would like to keep both cans. Can anyone offer advice regarding safe housing and storage of the Dr. Pepper cans?
A: Try the Dr. Pepper Museum people.
(From the Archives & Archivists List)
The Coffee Achievers
Okay, all day Alison and I have been laughing about this 1984 ad from the National Coffee Association, so it is only right to share.
As she noted, “Enjoy some coffee this morning, then slap a laughing dude, ’cause you are the American Society, the movers, the shakers!
“Slap happy!”
Huckleberry Finn (1920): Restoration
With the support of a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation, George Eastman House restored the first feature-length film adaptation of Huckleberry Finn, directed by William Desmond Taylor and originally released in 1920 Huckleberry Finn. Here is a trailer for the restored version.
Portland Drag
Dusty Polaroids, faded posters, yellowed newspaper clippings. To some, these items are nothing but clutter, better off recycled. To community archivist Greg Pitts, their mere existence is a miracle.
“I literally had to go to the back of an apartment one time to pick up a couple of boxes of photos that the garbage man was gonna throw away,” Pitts (aka Port Bear) recalls. “The family said, ‘We don’t want that gay crap, get it out of here.’ I got a call saying, ‘We heard you might want this, but if you don’t come get it in 30 minutes it will be gone.’”
Ted Serios: Paranormal Photographs
On exhibition through March 27 at the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County: “Psychic Projections/Photographic Impressions: Paranormal Photographs from the Jule Eisenbud Collection on Ted Serios.”
Ted Serios was an alcoholic Chicago bellhop said to have possessed an uncanny gift. Holding a Polaroid camera and focusing on the lens, he produced what he called thoughtographs: images of his thoughts transferred directly to the film.
In connection with the UMBC exhibition, the Chronicle Review features a fascinating article titled Ted Serios and Psychic Projections.
from the archives: January 8, 2007
I just watched the amazing and captivating Le Mans, featuring Steve McQueen and tons of racing. Someone needs to convince me not to purchase this jacket.
from the archives: September 26, 2006
Radiographer (and the Donkey Show Analogy)
My French-Algerian anatomy professor was discussing certain enzymes and how they are specific to certain tasks and therefore incompatible with others.
To elucidate this point, he asked if anyone in class had been to Laredo. A shy 18-year-old girl innocently answered yes.
And then the instructor began discussing the mythic donkey sex show to prove that, yes, some things are incompatible . . .
(There were several people separately muttering, “Oh, no, he didn’t . . . ” )
Yeah, did I say that he is my favorite teacher of all time? 8 am classes are like splashes of cold water, invigorating me for the day. Though you would think it would be a cold shower that I would need after class, somehow the experience is just the opposite.
from the archives: March 25, 2007
Arcade Fire meet Sergio Leone. Both benefit.
Hat-tip Three O’Clock in the Morning. Incidentally, emawkc is soliciting comments on the “art” (if any there is) of the mash-up. Opine there or here, if you wish.
(Ooh. Some people got kind of wrought up.)
Threats to Digital Preservation
In an attempt to damp down anti-government protests, the Egyptian government shut down the Internet in their country. One copy of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is hosted at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. As I write it is accessible, but the risk is clear. But, you say, the US government would never do such a thing, so the Internet Archive is quite safe. Think again. Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins are currently pushing a bill, the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, to give the US government the power to do exactly that whenever it feels like doing so.
via David Rosenthal
Compared to What? Les McCann and Eddie Harris (1969)
Oh. Dem Watermelons.
Grew up on this mess. No wonder I bent so twisted.
State of Texas
State of Texas. Circa 1913. Collection of cowgirl postcards. Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library.
